A NOTORIOUS drug addicted ‘teenager from hell’ has been jailed for a house-breaking spree which included stealing the ashes of a former magistrate.

Charlie Green, who has just turned 18, terrorised communities in Burnley for years.

He was one of a gang of three who struck repeatedly together over one night, invading three homes as people slept, driving off in two cars and crashing one.

Green, also known as Charlie Chipps, has already been given two anti-social behaviour orders after threatening residents and has flouted the restrictions.

He has a string of convictions including violence, drugs, burglary and racist behaviour and in June 2011, when he was just 15, was locked up for four months for attacking a taxi driver.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Green and a 17-year-old accomplice, who was said to have had a cocktail of alcohol and drugs, had snatched the ashes of the late Robert Gibson and stole other property from Lime Road, Accrington, on April 20.

It left Mr Gibson’s widow Kathryn and her family very upset and feeling as though their rights had been violated.

Days later, Green and the 17-year-old also terrified a young Accrington mother who found them in her house when she returned home at 2.30pm.

The victim, who had her two-month-old baby with her, barricaded herself into the lounge with the infant, while the pair, the younger armed with a stick, made off with laptops, cameras and £1,270 cash.

Green, of Briercliffe Road, Burnley, the 17-year-old, from the Accrington area, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and 18-year-old Joel Ludlam, from Westgate, Burnley, owned up to a catalogue of offences.

Green and youth pleaded guilty to the burglary in Lime Road. All three defendants admitted burglary at a property in Pilot Street, Accrington, and theft of a Suzuki jeep from the property, which was recovered after it hit an embankment on the M65 in an early morning crash. Blood from the three defendants was found in the vehicle.

All three also admitted burglary of a house in Dorset Street, Burnley, where a laptop, wallet and its contents were amongst the haul, a burglary at Russell Terrace, Padiham, where a Rolex watch was stolen and theft of a Citroen Saxo from the address.

Green and the 17-year-old also admitted the aggravated burglary of the young mum’s house in Queen's Road West, Accrington, on April 23. Green and the 17-year-old were each sent to a Young Offenders' Institution for three years. Ludlam got 40 months.

Mrs Gibson had told of her ‘horror’ at discovering the ashes of her dead husband had been stolen from her home after the door had been kicked in.

The victim had lost her husband of 32 years suddenly after he suffered a heart attack last December. Mr Gibson had served as a justice of the peace in Blackburn and Accrington.

Mum-of-two Mrs Gibson said: "As soon as I realised the ashes had gone I just broke down. I was horrified. The fact someone had been in my home was awful enough, but for them to take something so precious was devastating."

Police found the ashes abandoned on waste land near to Horne Street, Accrington, several hours later and returned them to Mrs Gibson.

Defending Green, Mark Stuart said he had committed offences since the age of 12. He had been offered help from agencies, but had resisted it.

The barrister said: "From the age of 11 to 18, he began to take as many drugs, of various natures, as he possibly could. It's an appalling state of affairs."

Mr Stuart, who said Green had a communication disorder and problems with social interaction, undoubtedly had had his difficulties and he had not helped himself, probably by the amount of drugs he had taken.

He said: "That will have to stop or he will probably end up killing himself."

Sentencing, Recorder Peter Atherton said the burglaries had caused the victims much distress and unrecoverable financial loss.

He said: "Their distress has been long-lasting. These have been major life events for them, which they will never forget and which will change their lifestyles adversely."